Construction of the National Stadium and two other venues for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is progressing smoothly, Vice-Mayor Liu Zhihua of the capital city said yesterday.

He made the remarks in a report to the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress - the capital's legislative body.

Construction of the National Stadium and the National Swimming Centre started late last year, the first to have started construction for the great event. Ground was broken in July at the site of the Beijing Shooting Range.

By the end of July, when construction of the National Stadium was suspended, a total of 1,258 foundation piles have been finished, according to Liu. This means 57 per cent of the foundation piles have been completed for the Olympic project.

As for the National Swimming Centre, 392,000 cubic metres of earth has been excavated, 98 per cent of the total. And half of the earthwork has been completed at the Beijing Shooting Range.

Liu said yesterday the Beijing organizers are now reconsidering the original plans for the Olympic venues to save money and use them for post-Games purposes while maintaining the quality and technological standards set by the International Olympic Committee and other international sports federations.

"Amendment of the construction plans of all Olympic venues will be completed in the year, laying the foundations for the overall construction to start next year," Liu said yesterday.

Work is currently taking place to optimize the design of the National Stadium, the National Swimming Centre and the Wukesong Basketball Gymnasium.

The layout of the baseball, softball, tennis, badminton and aquatic sports facilities will be further amended.

The official vowed to upgrade the layout of the Wukesong Cultural and Sports Centre, and gymnasiums affiliated with Peking University, the Beijing University of Science and Technology and the China Agricultural University, as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, amendments to draft designs of the Olympic Forest Park and the core area of the Olympic Green are also expected to be agreed upon in the near future, Liu said.

"We will try our best to reduce the figure of newly established venues and expansions in an attempt to hold the Olympic Games in an efficient way," he said.

Source: China Daily